MixTogether & Friends

The Times reports on the vote to ban the building of minarets in Switzerland:

Ulrich Schlüer, an SVP parliamentarian who drafted the initiative, told The Times that he had been certain of victory because the Swiss had had enough of the Muslim community. “We are still at the beginning of the process. We compare our situation to Germany, France or England — the problems they have in their suburbs,” he said. “That is what we do not want here.”

The Guardian reports:

The SPP said that going to the European court would breach the popular sovereignty that underpins the Swiss democratic model and tradition.

It dismissed the arguments about freedom or religion, asserting that minarets were not a religious but a political symbol, and the thin end of a wedge that would bring sharia law to the country, with forced marriages, “honour” killings, female genital mutilation and oppression of women.

Radical feminists in Switzerland backed the campaign and specified their opposition to ‘honour’ crimes as a reason:

Tatiana, a teacher who had previously voted for the left, was quoted in a newspaper as saying she would vote for the minaret ban as she could “no longer bear being mistreated and terrorised by boys who believe women are worthless”.

Socialist politicians have been furious to see icons of the left joining what is regarded as an anti-immigrant campaign by the populist Swiss People’s party, the biggest group in parliament.

One of them, Julia Onken, warned that failure to ban minarets would be “a signal of the state’s acceptance of the oppression of women”. She has sent out 4,000 emails attacking Muslims who condone forced marriage, honour killings and beating women.

Whatever your thoughts on the ban, it is encouraging to see feminists putting party politics aside to fight against ‘honour’ crimes

The Office of the Third Sector last month sent formal grant offers to 32 organisations for the Campaigning Research Fund, which was set up to strengthen the ability of small charities to campaign.

But third sector minister Angela Smith suddenly scrapped the scheme this month, saying the money was being diverted to the £16.7m Hardship Fund. The decision was taken without consultation and thus in breach of the Compact, which outlines how the public and voluntary sectors should behave towards each other.

More here, and YOU can help: sign this petition

This decision directly impacts IKWRO, who were one of the 32 funded organisations:

IKWRO suffers another funding blow

IKWRO, the UK’s best-known charity advocating for Middle Eastern and Central Asian women at risk of domestic violence, forced marriage and ‘honour’ killings suffered another blow yesterday when the Ministry of the Third Sector abruptly diverted funding of £750,000 from 35 small charities under the ‘Campaigning Research Programme’, including IKWRO, despite the existence of a Compact. The monies will be reallocated to 15 larger charities through the Hardship fund while the smaller charities may suffer yet more losses in the difficult climate of recession.

IKWRO, along with many other charities, worked very hard to become eligible for this funding, which according to Ben Wittenberg, Director of Policy and Research, Directory of Social Change was awarded only to the ‘the best and most innovative campaigners.’

This latest decision is further evidence that Labour are sidelining ‘honour’ campaigners in the runup to a general election.

Separate funding streams to IKWRO and Karma Nirvana have already been choked off, deliberately weakening those organisations in a cynical attempt to silence discussion before the election. The work of  forced marriage campaigners is a thorn in the side of more socially conservative immigrant communities, whose block votes are relied upon by Labour.

The vulnerability of individual ‘honour’ campaigning charities to fluctuations in funding is also a cause for concern.

Currently, ‘honour’ crime campaigning is conducted by individual small charities that have grown up in particular areas. There is minimal communication or coordination between these groups, and certainly no umbrella organisation that can speak for all of them at times of crisis. The lack of a united front between ‘honour’ campaigning groups is allowing the government to push them around with impunity.

With the verdict in the Tulay Goren case due this week, a coordinated roar should be going up from the major campaigning groups. Instead the reality is likely to be more of a squeak, with only the highest profile campaigners given access to the media to fight on behalf of everyone else.

With a future Conservative administration likely to be more receptive to the voice of ‘honour’ campaigners, and less reliant on biradery and bloc votes, the time has come to consider the creation of an umbrella organisation.

The trial of Mehmet Goren, Ali Goren and Cuma Goren for the murder of Tulay Goren is due to end next week.

Tulay Goren

 

The details of the case are horriffic.

A girl who disappeared a decade ago was murdered by her father in a so-called “honour killing”, a court has heard.
Tulay Goren, 15, a Kurdish Turk from Woodford Green, north London, vanished in 1999 and her body has never been found, the Old Bailey was told.
Her father Mehmet Goren, 49, and uncles Cuma Goren, 42, and Ali Goren, 55, both from Walthamstow, all deny murder.
The men also deny conspiracy to murder her boyfriend, Halil Unal, 30, between May 1998 and February 1999.
Tulay was last seen alive on 7 January 1999 with her father Mehmet Goren, of Navestock Crescent, Woodford Green, who is alleged to have killed her later that day.
Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said Tulay was killed “to restore the so-called honour” of the family, who originate from Turkey.

The distinguishing feature of this ‘honour’ killing trial is the testimony of Tulay Goren‘s own mother, Hanim Goren appearing for the prosecution.

The new account of events given by the mother of a girl said to have been murdered in an honour killing, including the disappearance of knives and bin-bags, was outlined by the prosecution at the Old Bailey yesterday…

…Her mother, Hanim Goren, has now said that later that day she was told to leave the family house with her younger children and stay at the home of her husband’s brother Cuma Goren, 42, in Walthamstow, east London. The eldest brother, Ali, 55, who lives in Ilford, was working in Cumbria at the time.
When she returned next evening Tulay was gone and most of her clothes had vanished, said Jonathan Laidlaw, QC, for the prosecution.
Mrs Goren noticed that two kitchen knives and an almost full roll of bin-bags were missing and that her husband had washed his own shirt for the first time in their marriage, it is alleged.
When she woke the next morning she realised that weeds and rubbish had been removed from the back garden and that flower beds had been dug over, the court was told.
Her husband claimed that he had turned over the soil with a meat cleaver and that he planned to plant vegetables for the first time in the five years that they had lived at the house, it is alleged. Five days later Mrs Goren was again told to stay with Cuma Goren. When she returned the following day she found her husband asleep on the floor. The back garden had been dug up again, the court heard.

Despite ludicrous claims by the defence that Tulay ran off to become a PKK guerilla it seems likely that this case will result in a conviction.

The age of the case (dating back to 1999) suggests the 3 men were prosecuted only when sufficient evidence was available to secure a conviction.

If a conviction is secured, it will be a huge embarrasment to the government who have recently cut funding to IKWRO and Karma Nirvana. Full details of the case will be carried by all major papers, re-igniting the public’s concern about honour crimes.

Coming so soon after the murder of Geeta Aulakh, a conviction for Tulay Goren‘s murder must cause a re-think in our approach to honour crimes.

The Independent reports that the Met’s top ‘honour’ crimes officers Nikki Hubbard and Commander Steve Allen are moving on ”imminently’:

HBV, forced marriage and female genital mutilation will all be highlighted in the police national intelligence database to be rolled out next year. And the National Policing Improvement Authority is working closely with Nikki Hubbard – the police officer who has spearheaded many of the improvements in this area – to develop a mandatory training package. But experts fear that the imminent departure to new posts of Ms Hubbard and the equally committed Commander Steve Allen could see progress stutter as many forces still rely heavily on their advice when dealing with individual cases.

These two officers have provided brave and sensitive leadership to the Met on ‘honour’ crimes. They have led from a time when the police were scared to tackle minority problems robustly for fear of being labelled ‘racist’. The difficulty of that task cannot be underestimated. Both officers faced the same uphill struggle as campaigning groups, negotiating a politically correct culture which has been slow to recognise and respond to ‘honour’ crime.

Both have worked closely with Karma Nirvana and other agencies to transform the police’s response to HBV, especially in the wake of Banaz Mahmod’s killing. I have been lucky enough to attend a couple of events alongside both officers; they were professional, courteous and friendly.

MT&Friends hopes that both officers will work to ensure a smooth transition  with the people chosen to fill their roles.

They will be a hard act to follow.

Rumbold at Pickled Politics reports the case of a female doctor in India who was forced to take a gender determination test for her twin girls.

Dr Mitu Khurana was subsequently harrassed by her husband and his family to abort the girls, culminating in the family casting her out on the street. Her attempts to obtain justice have been frustrated. The police, judiciary and her former employer have all pressured her to drop the case.

The BBC also carries a report today on young Indian women who are given to British men in arranged marriages and then abandoned after the wedding night. There are an estimated 15,000 – 20,000 abandoned brides in India. Although the Forced Marriage Unit point to an increase in forced marriages of British Males, most abandoned brides are being used as little better than prostitutes by their British Asian ‘husbands’.

In the week which has seen an Indian gang carry out a savage murder against a defenceless and innocent Asian girl of 28, isn’t it time we asked why female life is so cheap in the Asian community?

Sher Singh- the first person to be charged with Geeta Aulakh‘s murder- was remanded in custody today, to appear at the Old Bailey on 1 March 2010. He appears to be an Indian resident, as he required a Punjabi interpreter in court.

The Evening Standard and Sun report that police expect to prosecute more people for Geeta Aulakh’s murder, and that they are continuing to investigate an ‘honour’ dimension to her killing. The Sun states:

A police source told the Sun: “We believe Singh carried out the murder in conspiracy with others.”

A comment discovered by MixTogether & Friends on a Sikh networking site states:

THIS IS A IMMIGRATION CASE MURDER – USING PEOPLE,DISTRUST, LIES AND DECEPTION….THATS WHAT YOU GET IF YOU SCREW PEOPLE UP…..HER HAND GETTING CHOPPED OFF WAS [...] DELIBERATELY DESIGNED TO BE A HIGH PROFILE MURDER SO THAT IT GIVES A WARNING TO OTHERS NOT TO DO THIS SORT OF STUFF….BUT PLENTY PEOPLE STILL DO THIS… GET PAKKA AND RUN OFF

This case looks certain to throw the spotlight on practices that have no place in 21st Century Britain.

Sikh Kirpans on display at Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Leicester. Was s sword like this used to kill Geeta Aulakh?

If Sher Singh (a name which approximately translates as ‘Sikh Lion’) used a Kirpan in this murder, it will increase the impression that Geeta Aulakh was killed for a supposedly religious or cultural motive.

It is worth noting that the Kirpan- one of the 5 ‘K’s that baptised or ‘Khalsa’  Sikhs are obliged to keep- is meant to be used to protect the weak and innocent. Tragically no Kirpan was available to defend Geeta Aulakh when her innocent life depended on it.

Update: News on the trial for Geeta Aulakh’s murder

Sher Singh charged with murder of Geeta Aulakh – Telegraph
Teenager charged with murder of woman whose hand was severed – Guardian

A teenager has been charged with the murder of radio station receptionist Geeta Aulakh, 28, who was left dying in the street in north-west London with one of her hands cut off.

Sher Singh, 18, of Wren Avenue, Southall was charged with her murder and will appear at Ealing Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

It is now beyond doubt that this crime has its roots within the Asian community. Wren Avenue is minutes away from Sunrise Radio in Southall.

Anyone who is responsible for corrupting Sher Singh – a boy of 18 – into committing such a horrendous act of violence should also be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Harpreet Aulakh, the estranged husband of Geeta Aulakh who was savagely murdered earlier this week, has spoken to the Evening Standard after being released on bail:

‘Severed hand’ victim’s husband says: I’m innocent

Mr Aulakh said outside a home he rents with other men in Hounslow that he was innocent. “I love Geeta, I would never hurt her,” he said. “I had nothing to do with it. CCTV proves I was in a pub at the time. I was nowhere near the crime scene.

“The police arrested me because I helped them with a gang-related crime years ago, a shooting in Hounslow, and they had me on file. I’m going to find out who did this, and those people will pay, even if it takes the rest of my life.”

He added: “I know I am the prime suspect, but everyone is convicting me. I’m scared walking on the street.”

The Met confirmed that Mr Aulakh had received death threats last year and a man was later jailed for violent disorder. The threats are believed to have been connected to the shooting. The man who allegedly made them was found not guilty of the allegation.

The Guardian also elaborates on the mystery surrounding the killing:

Mystery surrounds brutal murder of Geeta Aulakh

It is in the particularly horrific death of Aulakh that the secrets of her life are emerging. Police believe what spilled out on to the street in Greenford, west London, on Monday evening was the violent culmination of something hidden in Aulakh’s recent past…

…In the frenzied assault, Aulakh was struck repeatedly around the head with [a] sabre-like weapon. She fought for her life, sustaining a serious wound to her right hand which severed it from her arm, leading to speculation that it was cut off deliberately in some sort of religious ritual. The suggestion is a distraction, sources say. The wound was a classic defence injury against an assault with a long, extremely sharp weapon.

The choice of location was deliberate, police believe. They say it was no random attack, but a planned assault by more than one assailant on a woman whose regular routine was known.

The nearness to her children is, again, no coincidence. “We are not talking about a stranger attacker here who she does not know. It is complicated but what you are looking at is a fairly closed group of people,” said police.

Once again, MixTogether members would like to send their sincere condolences to all those who mourn for Ms Aulakh.

Geeta Aulakh, a young woman of 28 who worked at Sunrise Radio in Southall, was brutally murdered while on the way to pick up her two young children in yesterday.

Geeta Aulakh, who worked at Sunrise Radio, pictured with her estranged husband Sunny (Harpreet Aulakh)

Geeta Aulakh was found in Braund Avenue, Greenford, west London, at 1900 GMT on Monday and died a few hours later from her injuries, which included a severed hand and a head wound.

Police are tonight holding six men including Geeta Aulakh‘s ex husband Sunny (Harpreet) Aulakh.

The Telegraph reports:

Geeta Aulakh left to die yards from child minder’s front door.

Friends described her as a “fun-loving girl” who separated from her Indian-born husband Harpreet, known as Sunny, about a year ago. A police source said Mr Aulakh was among six men arrested in connection with her death…

Mrs Aulakh was born in Britain to Punjabi parents, while her estranged husband was born in Punjab.

Her mother Nardesh Shinh, a GPs’ receptionist, described her daughter as “a wonderful person, never a bad word to say, so lively and beautiful”.

“We are just trying to come to terms with what has happened,” she added.

Avtar Lit, Mrs Aulakh’s boss at Sunrise Radio, said she came from a “respectable” family but that the “strong-minded” Geeta married against the wishes of her parents Nardesh and Lakwinder, a warehouse worker.

MixTogether members would like to send sincere condolences to all who mourn Ms Aulakh’s passing.